Through the midway point of the fiscal year, the Clean Energy Alliance’s revenues were $8.1 million higher than budgeted and expenses were about $6.7 million below budget, according to a presentation from the agency’s staff during a Feb. 27 board of directors meeting.
The CEA, a Community Choice Aggregation program, provides power to residents and businesses in Del Mar, Solana Beach, Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista.
The $207.8 million in revenue so far was 4% higher than anticipated, according to CEA staff. The $161.7 million in expenses, mostly made up of energy costs, was about 4% below budget.
“Several cost areas have softened in the past few months relative to historical high costs that were seen earlier in the year,” a CEA staff report reads. “Other non-energy expenses were slightly above budget during this period.”
Greg Wade, CEO of the Clean Energy Alliance, presented up-to-date enrollment stats that show nearly 250,000 CEA customer s, or about 99%, are using the default 75% carbon free plan. About 1,000 are on the 100% renewable plan and 700 are using the 50% renewable energy plan.
Oceanside and Vista, two of the latest cities to the CEA, added about 113,000 eligible customers. All eligible customers are automatically enrolled in the CEA but have the option to opt out. There have been just under 6,000 opt outs between the two cities, according to CEA data, equalling a participation rate of 94.8%.
